La Novels
Chapter 27
Chapter 27 Rare Imperial Ice Jade
“Is this Gem Wizard guy a big deal?‘ asked William.
“Very!” Tia replied in a slightly serious tone. “He debuted at the age of 15 and dabbled in stone gambling. He had far more wins than losses, and he had accumulated hundreds of millions in property by the time he was 20. At the age of 30, people were already calling him the Gem Wizard. I heard that as long as it’s good–quality jade, he’ll never miss it.”
William raised an eyebrow. “Since he’s so good at it, he should be filthy rich by now, right?”
Tia replied, “He didn’t get rich, though, and he currently has hundreds of millions in debt. You see, he not only loves stone gambling, but he also loves regular gambling as well
William understood immediately as he said, “So he’s addicted to gambling.”
“That’s why you have to be careful,” Tia said.
You’re the one who has to be careful. If I lose, you’ll have to marry Mr. Young over there, uttered William. Josh walked over to them gleefully and said to Tia, “What will it be. Tia? With Cesar here, you should get that guy to admit defeat while he can. Be a good girl and just marry into the Young Family.”
Tia snapped back, “Josh, the game hasn’t even started yet. Get off your high horse.”
Hearing her words, Josh laughed. “I can’t help feeling good whenever I think about you becoming my wife!” Then, he stopped smiling and glared at William, saying, “Kid, there’s still time for you to back out.”
William responded, “You’re so full of nonsense. No wonder Tia doesn’t like you.”
Josh’s expression turned cold. “Just wait and see!”
He dragged Cesar to the side to pick out the stones. William paid them no mind as he walked inside leisurely. When he passed by the small yard, he asked, “Are there stones in here as well?”
“Of course, and they’re all stones worth hundreds of millions. However, this yard will only be open to the public during the stone gambling festival. When the time comes, stone gamblers from all over the world. will participate. If you’re interested, we can come and have a look ourselves.”
Josh seemed to be absolutely confident that he would win this gamble, so he didn’t care about the price as he allowed Cesar to choose whatever he liked.
Seeing Josh’s nonchalant attitude, Tia suggested, “Josh, since you’re gambling stones, you should set a limit. The total price of purchase for both parties shouldn’t exceed 5 million each.”
Josh said indifferently, “No problem! No matter what, you’re already mine, Tia.”
“Keep dreaming. Tia couldn’t help but smirk.
Before she could finish speaking, Cesar spoke up. “Mr. Young, this is the one.”
It was a black jade ore from a secondary deposit. It weighed more than 200 pounds, and it was quite huge. There was an obvious hint of green on its surface, and it was worth 4.98 million!
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Chapter 27 Rare Imperial Ice Jade
William from time to time with a smug expression on his face.
William ignored him. He looked at a few ores but wasn’t satisfied with them. The ores were expensive, yes, but the jade within was limited.
The jade merchants were too clever these days. Every ore in the Supreme Area was already appraised by professionals, and the merchants had a confident guess of how much the ores would be priced. So, it actually was quite difficult to find a jade so premium.
After looking for a bit, he felt dizzy again, so he subconsciously rubbed his temples. His action worried Tia slightly. “It’s okay. Take your time.” It was obvious that she was faking her calmness, and she was actually on pins and needles.
William replied, “I guess it’s not easy to get rich on stone gambling either. These ores aren’t really worth more than their price.”
“Of course.” The lady agreed with his sentiment. “If you buy 10 ores at random, you’re already considered quite lucky if you can get 2 worth more than their price.”
As they spoke, they passed by the northeast corner of the yard. William spotted dozens of variably sized leftovers from cut stones piled haphazardly in the corner.
He couldn’t help but see through them for a moment. He discovered that an ore of almost 100 pounds contained a jade the size of a fist! This ore was surrounded by rocks, and a single jade lay within. Nothing on the ore’s surface revealed any hints, so even professionals wouldn’t think that there was a jade inside.
Startled, he hastily walked closer to inspect the ore. An imperial ice jade was concealed within, and it would weigh at least 5 pounds!
Imperial ice jades were exceedingly rare, and no one had seen any in recent years. Every time an imperial ice jade was found, someone would quickly add it to their collection. Its price was astronomical, and an imperial ice jade pendant weighing not even an ounce would cost hundreds of thousands! If it were made into a bracelet, it would cost somewhere in the range of tens of millions! A reserved guess would land this jade’s worth at more than tens of millions!
He took a deep breath, then waved a salesperson over.
The salesperson was a young woman, and she hastily jogged over to him. “Sir, is there anything I can help
you with?”
William pointed at the leftovers and asked, “Do you sell these?”
The salesperson glanced at them, then nodded and said. “Sir, all these are leftovers from the cut gems. They’re all priced very low.”
William pointed at the ore containing the imperial jade, asking, “How much for this?”
“Sir, this one costs 800”
William rolled his eyes. The surface of the ore was obviously useless material, and it wasn’t even categorized, so it was even worse than the lowest–grade jade! She actually asked for 800 in exchange for
useless ores like this!
If he hadn’t known that there was treasure hiding within, he would’ve turned around and left, not even sparing another glance.
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Chapter 27 Rare Imperial Ice Jade
Sull. he could just nod and say, Fine. I’ll buy this one.”
“What is that guy trying to do? Why is he buying leftovers?”
“Right? Those ores are abandoned ones. Does he really think he could get an imperial jade or something from them?
When the other people saw this, they all shook their heads.
William, however, was quite happy as he completed the payment, then asked the assistant to load the ore into the cart, ready to be cul
Tia couldn’t help but say, “I have 50 million with me, so you can pick the more expensive ores if you like.”
William shook his head. “It’s okay. I’ll pay for this one.”
Tia rolled her eyes. It cost only 800, so of course, he was expected to pay for himself!
William assured her, saying, “Be patient. The best is yet to come.”
Tia nodded lightly, a little intrigued.
He lugged the leftover ore behind him as he walked toward the eastern side of the area, where the stones were being cut. Josh was standing there, sneering as he waited for William to arrive.
Meanwhile, Josh’s ore which cost almost 5 million was already showing something. As the ear–piercing noise sounded, Josh’s smile turned even more gleeful.
When he saw William bringing a leftover ore, he started guffawing
“You fool! You’re buying a useless ore just because you can’t afford an ore from the Supreme Area? Haha, what a joke!”
William was unaffected as he glanced at the workstation. “What do you know? I have a treasure with me.”
The stone cutter seemed to have heard about their bet, and he couldn’t help but give William a pitiful look.
Soon, the jade was peeking out from the ore. Cesar went forward and examined it. With just a glance, he smiled and announced, “Mr. Young, it’s a win!”
Josh was beaming as he saw the rich green jade inside. He laughed and declared, “Make two more incisions!” At the same time, he glanced coldly at William with the gleeful look of a victor.
After the three incisions were made, Cesar examined it a few more times, then smiled happily as he said, “Icy and rich green! This ore piece is worth at least 7 million! You win! If it were made into a pendant, it would cost at least 20 million.”
Josh laughed again, his anger from before completely gone. Then, he looked at William with a fake smile. “Your turn!”
William shrugged, then got someone to move the 100–pound leftover ore to the workstation. After that, he drew a few lines on the ore with a pen, then said to the stone cutter, “Cut away!”
The stone cutter set to work right away. He started
machine and began cutting, and after the single cut. 3/5
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the surface was still completely white.
The others sighed, feeling that he was done for.
Tia remained silent. She was a smart woman, and she knew William had a reason for doing this.
Williams continued instructing the stone cutter to make 5 more cuts, but all 6 of them yielded nothing green. With every cut, the onlookers would sigh once, feeling that all this was a waste of time.
William picked up the ore that was already cut into a cube, then continued drawing lines on it.
Josh couldn’t help but mock him. ‘Kid, you just want to show off in front of Tia despite not having the money to buy the ore, right? Sorry to break it to you, but leftover ores are nothing more than that. It will never be as good as my black jade ore, which cost 5 million!”
“You’re jumping to conclusions, William said calmly. “I haven’t started cutting the stone yet!”
Everyone fell silent. 6 cuts were already made, but why was he saying that the stone wasn’t cut yet?
William passed the stone with drawn lines to the stone cutter. This time, he said with a stern expression. “Please reveal the stone!”
“Reveal the stone?” Everyone was stunned. The stone was already all cut up, so was it even necessary to reveal anything?
The stone cutter had his doubts, but he did as he was told. Following William’s requests, he began sanding the stone with the grinding wheel.
William watched the workstation with utmost focus bordering on zeal because this tiny stone would be worth tens of millions!
His expression caused Cesar and Josh to wonder why he would be so confident.
Just then, the stone cutter suddenly stopped. He was clearly stunned as he said, “Sir, there’s a jade inside.”
“What? A jade?”
“That’s impossible! This is just leftover ore!”
The onlookers started whispering amongst themselves while Josh felt his heart sink. He parted the crowd and rushed up to the workstation, only to see jade green in the purest shade!
He stood where he was, frozen and rooted to the spot.
Even people who didn’t know much about jade would feel that this shade of green was beautiful and pleasant to the eyes. Also, the nicer looking a piece of jade was, the more expensive it usually would be!
Tia was all smiles now. She was right about William, after all. Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.
Only Willian remained calm as he said indifferently, “Go on.”
A few minutes later, an ore with two incisions appeared in front of the crowd. Under the sunlight, one could see that the jade within had a dense color, and not a single streak was in sight. It was an ice jade!
Oh, my poodness! An imperial ice iadel‘ A veteran fotone rambling shouted in shock, and he was so
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emotional that he began trembling,
“Good sir, I’m buying your ere for 7 million!”
Suddenly, a middle–aged man in a suit and leather shoes walked forward and smiled as he said to William.
Before he finished speaking, a young woman stepped forward and said, “I’m offering 8 million!”
The middle–aged man frowned slightly, then offered, “8.5 million!”
million. A calm yet determined voice rang out, a sure sign that the owner of the voice was insistent on getting the jade.
“I can’t believe it’s an imperial ice jade! I run a jewelry business, so I’m paying you 10 million for this!”
“Tm giving you an extra 500 thousand. 10 million and 500 thousand!”
Tia smiled and said. This ore is not for sale, so stop fighting.”
Everyone was stunned. Not for sale?
She took William’s arm and smiled, saying. Tve said before that I want all the ores you cut.”
William, however, didn’t mind it that much. It wouldn’t matter who got their hands on the ore as long as he got money for it. Hence, he nodded.
Tia turned to face Josh. “Josh, since you’re willing to bet, you have to accept defeat as well. I recorded everything during the bet, so if you dare bother me again, I’ll share the recording with the public so that you’ll be the joke of the Justford upper–class society,”
Josh gritted his teeth as he glared at William in hatred, but there was nothing he could do..
Meanwhile, William ignored him and said to Tia, “I guess that’s a wrap.”
As expected, Tia smiled brightly. “Our rewards today are good enough! Let’s go.”
She took William’s arm and walked out of the Supreme Area. Behind them, Josh had an extremely dark look in his eyes.
“Barrett, you’re done for! I’ll make you pay!”